Enough already...

April 20th and we woke up to snow on the ground.
It melted by the early afternoon but that didn't help things....I think we get it....we live in Minnesota, it snows here...blah, blah, blah.

Now get it out of your system and bring on the sun!

Diabetes in a bowl

It's Tuesday!

You know what that means?!

Yep- The Grandpa Dan Show and ice cream!!!

Tonight's choice= Wendy's Frosty with mini-chocolate chips.

Something's missing...

Both kids were taking a nap yesterday afternoon so I decided to sneak out and run to Target (for the 1st time for this week and the first time in 24 hours).
It started off amazing!  I could take as long as I wanted.  I didn't have to talk to anyone.  I didn't have to keep reminding the kids in the cart to 'keep it down' or 'use their inside voices'.
Going down the aisle, realize it's the wrong one? No problem, turn around and go down the right one.  No need to explain myself. Just do it.

Then about half way through my trip it made me a little sad.

Where were my little friends?
Who was going to keep track of my list, what we bought and what we still have left to get?
Who was going to be the tie breaker when I had choices to make?!

Note to self:  next time kids are sleeping, use the time to get something done in the house- the kids are actually very helpful shopping buddies

Mutt and Jeff

Yesterday we were at Denny and Judy's for a family get together.

Within minutes of arriving, Hannah was gone- only seeing the side of her as she ran by us the rest of the night.

I was walking past the bathroom and heard Hannah and Adam inside.  

Hannah:  "Adam, wanna take a bath with me?"

Adam:  "Sure!"

I had to look inside to see what was going on.

Hopefully their clothes were still on and hopefully the water was off.

Whew!  Walked in to find this

These two played together all night!

At one point Judy made a comment about how they were just like "Mutt and Jeff".

It was fun seeing them communicate and have so much fun together.

Hannah is now planning a time when she can invite Adam over for their very own sleepover.

Here they are sharing a chair, a plate, and a snack :-)

Uno, dos, tres

Place:  Target deli counter
What:  Waiting for the lady to finish packaging up our items

Me:  "When she is done we should have 5 packages.  Wanna help me count them?"
Hannah:  "Can we count them in Spanish?"  (said in a way that was more of an I will if....)

Hope it's worth it

I signed up to be a consignor at the April 28-30 Just Between Friends Sale in Elk River.

 Interested?    http://elkriver.jbfsale.com/pages/home

I have been working little by little to go through our 'baby things' and make decisions about what items to sell, what items to donate, what items to graduate to the world of shop-rags, what items should just make their way to the landfill, etc.

This is what I have to show for about 20 hours of work....

 

MUCH harder than I anticipated.
First I had to ransack the house to find all the places that could have stuff stored away.
Then I had to look at every item and inspect for stains, holes, etc.
Then I had to determine if I was going to keep or sell.  (still working on this one)
Then I had to pack back up in some sort of fashion so when the day comes that I can finally iron (yikes!) and tag everything in a somewhat organized manner.

One HUGE tote and a laaundry basket FULL of toys.
One tote of maternity clothes.
Four totes of baby clothes 0-12 months (summer and spring only)
One tote of shoes, socks, hats
One container of blankets
One box of onsies, socks, tights, washcloths
I have two bathtubs, a bathseat, a swing, a boppy pillow, a Boppy seat, an activity table, an exersaucer, and a car seat with two bases.

It was a very emotional process but at the same time I handled it better than I thought I would.  I only teared up a few times and at one point actually told myself to turn the emotions off so I could get through this.
I think when I actualy make the decision to tag, determine a price, etc, it will be MUCH harder.
On one hand I have so much nice stuff that I would love to keep it- just in case we have another or just in case one of my sisters has a little girl.
Trouble with those feelings- I have an opportunity to get rid of these items when they are still 'in style' and worth something.   Who knows if we will have more kids.  Who knows when my sisters would have kids and when they do, it's only 50/50 chance it would be a girl.
I know it would really help them out, etc but at the same time I loved getting things for the baby and going shopping. There will be plenty of showers and plenty of people spoiling those kids once they are on their way.

Our house isn't big enough to store all of this stuff for a case of the what ifs.
I need to take my chance at selling it.

I have to keep telling myself  "You are selling clothes, NOT the actual children.  They do not fit in these clothes and never will again."   It doesn't make me feel better.

I haven't even started the hard part yet...

Signs of love

These poor books.
I was organizing and cleaning up the girls books and came across a little stack of them that sure needed some TLC.
Covers were ripped off, pages ripped out, bindings were coming apart.
I started getting mad and then it hit me.
These books wouldn't look this way if they weren't loved.
I am sure that the books in perfect condition in the pile right now wished that they looked like these guys....

Not a fan

I don't mind doing laundry.

 Hanging and folding shirts?  No biggie.

Folding and putting away towels?  Sure.

Matching the white socks?  No thank you.

It is hard for me to just grab two socks and put them together.

I need to at least do my best to match the shade of white.

Yup.

Gets worse....

After I get the shades matched up I am not satisfied until the softness is compared.

Just like that

About three weeks ago we were talking again that it is probably time to start thinking about weening Hailey from her nuk.
Of course Brian was much more equiped to deal with this than I was and knowing that eventually she would have to deal it was still hard for me to start this process.
We should wait until after all of her teeth are in.  We should wait until we get her into a big girl bed.  We should wait until she starts talking more and then we can bribe her like we did with Hannah.....do I need to continue or do you get it?

One day when I picked the girls up from Jackie's, Hailey was standing at the diaper bag.  As soon as she saw me she started running in place with excitement and then reached into the front pocket of her bag where the nuk waited everyday for her because after 12 months they aren't 'allowed' at Jackie's anymore.
What? Was? That?
At that moment the decision was made (in my head) to start the process.  Not really sure how yet but at least start.
The next morning when I dropped the girls off, I placed Hailey's nuk inside in the insdie pocket of the diaper bag.   At this point it was more of an out of site, out of mind thing but I knew that if she asked for it or wanted it when she went to bed we I would cave.

One little step of the plan I forgot.....I didn't tell Brian my thought and didn't tell him that the nuk was in the bag.

He picked the girls up on that day, Hailey reached in the front pocket and no nuk!  She was NOT happy and she let daddy know.
Brian texted me to ask me where the nuk was.  By the time I responded to him he had already made up his mind that on his watch today she was going to have to learn to deal because he was done with this nuk obsession.
That night I got home, Hailey whined a tiny bit for her nuk but then the art of distraction took over and she soon forgot about it.
That night, Brian put her to bed without her nuk.  (There was NO way that this would work)

or would it?

She feel right to sleep and the next day would mark the first day of her life as clean and sober.

It's official.  The stash that has been hanging out waiting for the ultimate breakdown is getting thrown out.

It's all fun and games until someone gets to the bottom

This time two years ago, Hannah wore that exact same jacket and played on that exact same slide.

My oh my, how time flies!

When Hailey gets to the bottom, she does not appreciate having to put her hands down to get herself back up.  She tries really hard to land on her feet at the bottom but when she doesn't, she usually just sits there and waits for someone to help her get up so she can climb back up and come back down.

Too bad for her that got old after about 10 times so the next few she was left to figure it out.

Took her a few minutes to figure out that instead of having to touch the ground she could just turn around and use the slide to stand herself back up.

Seems strange for a little girl that likes to get into everything...

aaaaand....we're back

This weekend we had great weather.

It rained and overall wasn't the best of weekends for weather but considering that it wasn't snowing or requiring anyone to wear hats and mittens, it's my favorite of the year so far!

The weather was nice enough that you could actually get away without wearing jackets.

We spent Saturday morning outside in our 'usual' weekend positions.

Lawn chairs out, bubbles in hand, watching daddy do yardwork.

Hailey is getting her last four teeth.

This has made her nose like a faucet lately.

Today while we were outside, Hannah ran in to the house to get something.

She came out with a Kleenex and each time she saw Hailey's nose running she ran over to wipe it.

"Hold still baby, I will wipe you nose for you."

Another meltable moment.

Yep- that's what you think it is

Emerson joined us today on our daily trip to Target.

Hannah climbed in on her side of the car and then immediately crawled over to Hailey's seat to buckle Emerson in.

Over the top? 

Maybe, but it isn't hurting anyone :-)

Suppertime Blues

I wonder if she thinks that I actually enjoy this?!

This is Hannah sitting at the dinner table, crying because we are making her eat before she can get down.

Suppertime is not always fun at our house.
It usually starts out stressful before I have even left for work.
The daily question 'WFS?'  (what's for supper?)
Shame on me (us) that we don't plan ahead and lay out a schedule but it never really sounds like a 'fun' thing to do.  I know that the pay-out would be well worth it and start our evenings out on a better course but it is hard to come up with new ideas, etc.
Not my favorite thing to do.  I have tried different websites and other ideas for trying to get more organized about this but just like everything else, sometimes I have TOO many ideas that I end up doing nothing because I start with a small idea like 'I should plan a weekly meal calendar, go shopping to make sure we have all ingredients' and it turns into I should go through all of our cookbooks strolling for ideas, print them on recipe cards and then hang them on the fridge- in the meantime we should take an inventory of all the food we already have and find a way to catalog, etc, etc, etc.
Great ideas and intentions.  Not so good with execution.  I need to work on that but that will be for a different day....

Anyways, back to the point.

Daily question of what to have for supper.  Sometimes tons of ideas, other days struggle.
Then I get home from work, usually between 5 and 5:30, and I walk into a house of hungry people.
Brian is usually already in the process of making supper, the kids are either trying to get his attention, fighting, playing, or watching tv.
Within about 30 minutes of walking through the door (usually less) we are sitting at the table eating.
Hannah goes through these spurts where she won't eat.  She is always talking throughout dinner and saying she isn't hungry.
Of course the minute she were to get down she starts begging for a treat.  Yeah right, little one!  Nice try!

We have tried various things and usually the only thing that works is to tell her without eating there is no treat.  That usually does the trick but it can take a long time some nights.
Brian is much more strict than me in this area.  He would like to set a timer and if she isn't done eating in that timeframe than her plate goes away, she gets down and no treat. 
I am much more relaxed about it.  If you don't want to eat, get down, you won't get a treat and if you ask to eat something later you can finish your dinner.  I like to think that it is patience but when I think about it I am sure that he is probably right.  We need to just have a few nights of fits and fussing and she will see that she has one chance to eat.  When she gets to kindergarten they aren't going to let her sit at the table and eat for 45 minutes. 
It's hard for me.  I want her to eat but at the same time don't want her to get some type of 'issue' with food because she is forced to eat or forced to shove food in 10 minutes.  It is a tricky situation for me.

I do know that we need to do something different it's just finding the right balance.

I don't normally think that she is intentionally 'playing' me.  I know sometimes she is, probably most of the time, but overall she is a good kid so I don't find the need to be so hard on her and things she does. 

A timer is probably a really good idea but now trying to determine how long it should take.  That's the tricky part.

Wish me luck!

She was not happy with me when she saw the other pictures and asked me to take another one.

P.S.  She ended up eating everything on her plate but it took her about 45 minutes.

Got down and immediately said 'I'm hungry, I need a treat!"

Dankie Monster

Guess who?

It's the DANKIE MONSTER!

Hannah was still sitting at the dinner table finishing her lunch and while Brian and I were cleaning up Hailey was entertaining Hannah.

Nothing brings two sisters together like a good 'ol game of peek-a-boo!

(cue music) Money, Money, Money

On the weekends when Hailey goes down for her nap Hannah likes to play with our change bucket.

She practices counting or gets creative with sorting them to develop different ice cream flavors.

Hundreds of dollars worth of toys around the house and she has most fun with $30 in change.

She usually ends up making a mess and the next morning we are never surprised when we wake up with a quarter stuck to our leg but that's ok.  At least it's a clean mess :-)

Wonder if there is a market for this....

I love to write on napkins.

Everyone that works with me knows it.

It's just something about the way that the pen glides across them that I love the most. 

The other thing that I love about them? 

Try to write yourself a note on a napkin and then not pay attention to it.

It's impossible. 

You will try to throw that note/list/thing away all day forcing you to touch it, pick it up, read it, and remember that you have something to do.

Works like a charm!

Family popcorn

The girls worked up an appetite tonight playing 'Monster' with daddy. 

They wanted to have a snack.  After talking them out of more chocolate or cookies, we settled on popcorn.

Hannah and Hailey went to the cupboard to get bowls for the popcorn.

I overheard Hannah telling Hailey that they needed to get bowls for the 'whole family', 'a daddy bowl, a mommy bowl, and kid bowls'. 

My birthday letter

The letter reads...

I was going to go shopping today to buy you something fun for 'you'.  Maybe a purse, sandals, necklace, shirt, or whatever caught my eye.
But then I called you last night while you were trying to have a little 'me' time (which wasn't working so well for you).  You told me about how you tried to have your 'me' time at 5am and that didn't work either.
It made me remember when my kids were little and how hard it was to get even a minute to yourself to do something you like doing.
That's when I decided that you can buy your own purse, sandals, necklace, shirt, or whatever catches your eye!
For your birthday I want to give you some 'YOU' time!
My gift to you is...

• 2 Twins ticket to the Saturday May 14th game
• A round trip ride to/from the Anoka train station
• A nanny for the day/night (me, of course!)

From one mom to the next "YOU DESERVE THIS!"

This is my birthday gift from Stacey.  I absolutely LOVE it!
I am so excited to have a date with Brian and enjoy doing something together all while knowing that the girls are taken care of and having a good time.  Although, that isn't my favorite part of the gift.
My favorite part of the gift is the fact that my bestie acknowledged that I needed this.

It is no news that having two young children can be tiring and being the mother of those two children can be overwhelming.  You start to look for any moment that you can be alone.  The bathroom becomes your 'getaway' and usually you aren't even safe there. 

I know that there are 50 people in my life that would watch the girls for me.  It's not that I don't know that- but- it is awesome to have someone offer to take them.  Not just an open offer of  "I will take them anytime" but an acutal "Why don't you go do this at this time and I will watch the girls" type of offer.  Takes the mommy-guilt out of the equation.

Thank you my friend- this means a lot!

Ta-Da

We were shopping at Target last night and passed by these bikes.  

Hannah looked over and said " Mommy, those bikes look cool.  Take my picture with them while I ta-da!"

This picture makes me giggle. 

She acted like such a big kid having such a big idea tonight.

The pose just kills me :-)

The best part

This girl loves her Dankie.

She loves to smell him.  She loves to snuggle him.  She loves to put him in her ear.

Tonight we were driving home from Target.  She found 'the best part' on Dankie (he was allowed IN the car for the ride but NOT in the store for shopping).

For fear of losing 'the best part' she asked if I would hold him while she got out of the car (this time no orders to not smell myself, although, I wasn't tempted either).

When we got in the house she was looking around - "here Dankie, you wait here".

She shoved 'the best part' in the cabinet handle so she wouldn't lose it...

She went potty...

and got her jammies on...

You hear me say it all the time but it is necessary for these situations.....

you can't make this stuff up!





Ummm, thanks for that

Yesterday when I was sick I pretty much sat on the couch the whole day.

I did get up and worked at the computer downstairs for about 3 hours but around 10:00 am. I had had enough and needed to lay down.

I went upstairs, sat on the couch, and didn't move again until 3:00 when Brian asked me to thaw out pork chops.   I was vertical for only about 5 minutes before back to the couch I went.

The girls and Brian got home around 4:40.  I was still on the couch and would end up sitting there until it was time to eat.

While we were waiting for daddy to get dinner ready, Hailey walked over to the couch.

I reached down to get her - obviously she was coming to cuddle- right?!

Wrong :-(

She actually wiped her nose on my pant leg.

Oh well, guess I was at least good for somethin'!

Hannah, the nurse

I was out at a work dinner last night and about 1/2 way through the dinner I started feeling sick.  I was getting light headed and nauseous.  I kept making trips to the bathroom in hopes to vomit so that I would feel better.  I probably should have left the dinner early however I was nervous to be driving.  I thought if I sat for a while it would pass and I wouldn't be gambling with the possibility of messing up my new car.

I made it home, not until after 10:00 pm though.....  I went straight to bed and at 3:00 am found myself on my hands and knees in the bathroom vomiting.

Brian talked me into staying home today (thanks honey!).

Hannah woke up while Brian was in the shower and came into the bedroom.

Hannah:  "Mom, I thought you always take your shower first?"

Me:  "Not today honey, mommy is sick."

Hannah:  "You sick?!  Your tummy hurts, you puking, and have squirt poops like me last time?"

Me:  "Yes."

Hannah:  "(gasping)  I don't want to get sick again.  Move over to the other side of the bed away to me so you don't get me sick!"

I rolled over to Brian's side of the bed and turned on the TV for her.

Hannah: "I will get the temperature to check you."

She went into the cupboard, grabbed the thermometer, and climbed back into bed.

Hannah:  "OK, let's do this!"

She was happy to see that the thermometer was 'green' after the beep (signifying normal temp). 

Creative Storage

Need more cupboard space?

Have a dishwasher that you never use?

Problem solved.

Missing-apolis Skyline

Glanced over at the city today on my way home from work and realized that I needed to document how weird it looked.

Remember me telling you that there was a snowstorm this year that collapsed the Metrodome roof?

Well, here it is.  Proof that the iconic white dome that welcomes you to the city is gone.

I wish I would have gotten a better picture and should really think about heading out someday on lunch to get a better picture of this (maybe someday I will replace this with a better picture).

Looks weird, right?

Movie Feeter or BUST!

Hannah and I were invited to go with Gretchen, Stacey, and their girls to see the Justin Beiber movie this weekend.  Hannah hasn't been to a movie yet and the thought of having her first experience be with our good friends?  We're in!

We had to sneak out and wait outside for a few minutes so that Hailey wouldn't see us leave and get upset.

I do feel bad at times like these but I know I shouldn't.  What in the world would a one year old get out of going to a movie?!  Besides, that way her first experience will be one that someday she will actually remember.

Mom:  "If Stacey's new car smells good like yours, I will probably want to eat it up!"

The movie was only playing at the Oakdale theater today so we had to drive all the way there to see the movie.    When we got there we were told that the movie wasn't playing until 4:00 pm (we got there for what we thought was a 1:10 movie).  You can imagine how upset and disappointed we were to find out that the movie wasn't playing after all (long story- which really isn't that interesting) so the manager-kid told us that we could see any other movie for free.  We choose Gnomeo and Juliet - pretty sure it was the only animated show that day.  It was in 3D - if you couldn't tell by the glasses.

Hannah did really good.  She got bored about 15 minutes in and wanted to sit on my lap.  Once there she sat still and besides talking through the whole movie she was a perfect angel. 

It was a fun day however the girls were very sad that they didn't get to see Justin.

Snack Monster

Hailey will not stay out of the pantry.

Whether she opens it to help herself to a snack, get a bag from the bottom shelf (to use for any number of reasons), or just move things around, that door is always open.

Sometimes she will help herself to a bag of fruit snacks, sometimes a box of crackers.

We have been really lucky the days she found the box of rice and pancake mix.

However my favorite was probably when I found her sitting on her 'table' digging her hand into a box of Onion Ring batter mix. 

Gotta hand it to her, the front of the box looked like something delish was inside!

Luckily I caught her before her handful of mix made it in her mouth.

Drying machines and laundry tissues

Today while doing laundry Hannah asked me if she could put the laundry tissue in the drying machine.

One of my favorite things about blogging is that these types of moments happen almost everyday and in normal everyday life for most people they happen and then are forgotten.

Talk to any mom, she has/had every intention of keeping track of these types of things.  She might have a baby book that she wrote it down in and might even find a few pieces of scratch paper laying around with cute words or phrases written on them with the hopes to 'get to it someday'.

That's why blogging is so perfect for me.  It gives me a place to document these phrases, conversations, definitions, etc.  Someday my kids will ask me who they were when they were younger.  I will remember (that is one thing that a mom won't forget) but to be able to tell a story that describes their personality? - I will have that.

I can't wait to order my 2010 blog book but most of all I can't wait to read it in 2030!

Table Potato

Who needs a couch when you have a table?  Hailey loves sitting in/on this table and watching TV.  Sometimes she sits alone, sometimes she brings her baby, blanket, or drink.  Sometimes she just sits and reads books.  Someday she is going to be too big to fit there :-(

and again...

Really?!

What if I have a guest over that has a runny nose?  I can't keep the Kleenex locked up forever!

Don't go in my room....

Just got done with dinner and I was standing at the kitchen sink washing the dishes.

Hailey and Brian were downstairs.  Hannah was in and out of her room.

 I just washed the last dish when Hannah came into the kitchen.

She stood in front of me, held her hand up and said "Mom, don't go in my room ok?"

Me:  "Hmmmmm, why is that?"

Hannah:  "Don't go in there ok?  I not doing anysing."

(yeah right)

Me:  "What did you get into that you aren't suppose to be doing?"

Hannah: "Anysing.  Stay out here.  I will be just fine."

I open the door to see this.

Hannah decided she wanted to feed Changing Baby Diaper.  By herself.  Something we haven't done yet. 

We had to have a discussion about her helping herself to the scissors and using her baby's crib as a step stool to reach the top drawer where the food packets were....hidden from her, or so I thought.



Happy (real) Birthday to me!

Today is my real birthday.

Lucky for me I have been celebrating since Saturday ......you could say just practicing. :-)

Felt very lucky and loved today. Lot of calls and birthday wishes.

Brian and Hannah made sure we had cake, candles, and singing after dinner.  My sister Jennie's blog entry was about me today and within the first few sentences she had me in tears (the good kind).

I am lucky to have such great people in my life- thanks for being a part of it!

Happy Birthday to me! (spoiled rotten)

Yesterday when the girls and I were packing up to head out to Albertville, Brian texted me and asked if we had left yet.

Immediately after that my phone rang.  I answered to this "Hi, wanna come and see your Birthday present?".

I was asked to meet him in Coon Rapids at the Nissan dealer. 

On his way to the mall (to get my birthday present) he decided to drive through the lot.

When the girls and I got there he showed us the car.  We decided to go to lunch so that we could talk about it and then while we were gone we asked the dealer to figure out how much they would give us for a trade in on the Honda.  During lunch, we got the call.  We were happy with the trade in deal and decided that when we went back to the lot we would be driving home in this!

She is fully loaded with charcoal leather interior, heated seats, rear-backing camera, Bose stereo, dual temp control, there is a USB hook up for an iPod that actually lets me control the iPod through the stereo (shows the playlists and everything), bluetooth, etc.

But the COOLEST feature.  This car doesn't take a key.  As long as the key is within reach or in the car you can start it just by pushing this button.

I am surprised that I am actually home right now as I would rather be out on the roads driving!  I absolutely LOVE IT!

A little over the top for a Birthday present, but Brian usually does go above and beyond when buying gifts!  Thank you honey for always being so generous- I love you!

Hello Spring!

It was about 50 degrees today.

I had a coupon for Gap and Old Navy to save 30% off my purchase so I thought it would be a perfect day to head out to Albertville.

As soon as I rounded the last corner to head towards the mall I saw that everyone else in Minnesota had the same idea that I did.  There was a line about 1/4 mile long waiting to turn left into the mall area.

Surprisingly we found a place to park and were able to join the rest of the residents of the state enjoy a beautiful day at an outdoor mall.

The deal, one store then one ride, then one store then one ride, etc.

Lucky for me we were only going to a few stores.  I may have stuck it out longer if it weren't so busy but by myself with both of the girls and a HUGE double stroller....not today.

(Besides my Birthday present from Brian was at home waiting for me!)